In which an overly analytical knitter uses too many words to describe what she's doing.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Welcome to Sleeve Island! *

Four front panels done and four sleeves to go! Lucky for me, all sleeves involved are short sleeves. However, the anticipation of finishing both Moni and Elspeth is giving me anxiety attacks. Why? Because I'm venturing into uncharted territory and I have perfectionist tendencies. I'm not sure how well I can do the finishing of each sweater and I'm afraid that these sweaters won't turn out perfect as nicely as I want them to be.

I mostly finished the front of Moni over the weekend.I say "mostly finished" because I haven't knitted the sewn-on button bands yet. The button bands are the anxiety-inducers on this sweater. The instructions say to press (i.e. block) the sweater and sew the shoulder seams before knitting and sewing on the button bands. That just seems so wrong to me. I think that the button bands should be blocked at the same time as the rest of the sweater. But should I knit and sew the bands before I block the whole thing, or should I knit the bands and then block and then sew? Oh decisions, decisions! The fact that I have never made sewn-on button bands makes this decision harder.

Elspeth's front panels were finished last night.Two anxiety-inducers for this little sweater. First, the trim around all the edges is crochet. When it comes to crochet, I don't know a slip stitch from a half-double crochet. (Remember, my first attempt at crochet was not very long ago.) Second, after several searches through the blogosphere, I have yet to see a completed, well-fitting Elspeth. I'm worried that I will have to stand with my arms akimbo the entire time I'm wearing this sweater. (Furthermore, It disturbs me to no end that the lace is not symmetrical. But I will do my best to ignore that.)

* I always thought the term sleeve island was rather weird. But this title reminded me of Mr. Roark saying, "Welcome to Fantasy Island!" And once that thought crossed my mind, it stuck.

Your progress is great, and I wish you luck with both sweaters. I just saw your photos of the Lily Chin shawl from Vogue, and ... you've convinced me... I must knit one! I've been mulling over it for a while now, mainly because I'm allergic to mohair. But I will find a way, hehe!

As for button-bands, I have definitely knit them after blocking. I hesitate to say there's any benefit to it, but I also don't think there are any negatives. It's one of these things where we do what feels right :).

I would think you want to block the button bands at the same time as the sweater. It's just a strip for your buttons, right? Maybe they assume you will block the bands because I think it would be easier to sew them together.